


Stay with me until the dawn

by orphan_account



Series: The Young Pendragon Must Live [2]
Category: Merlin - Fandom
Genre: Hurt!Merlin, Hurt!everyone, hurt!Arthur
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:47:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23591062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Merlin goes to save Arthur’s life and Arthur follows him.
Series: The Young Pendragon Must Live [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1698124
Comments: 2
Kudos: 40





	Stay with me until the dawn

**Author's Note:**

> Requested sequel to scars.

“You need some time off? Why?” Arthur questioned his servant.

“I just wish to have a few days off so I could go see my mother.” Merlin lied through his teeth.

Arthur could sense that he was lying, but if he wanted to know what was going he knew he would have to play along, “Fine you have a few days, but please try not to take forever.”

“Yes sire.” Merlin got up and started walking out, “goodnight Arthur.”

Arthur listened to Merlin walk down the hallway and wait another few seconds before he got up to follow him. He walked silently down the hallway and followed Merlin. He first went to the kitchen and filled a satchel with enough provisions for a few days. Arthur knew that next Merlin would go to his chambers and pack other necessities for a trip in the woods and that he should also pack so he could follow Merlin.

Ten minutes later Arthur stood with a few of knights waiting to see Merlin leave. When Merlin finally emerges from his chamber they all watch him walk towards the stables keeping enough space between them so Merlin doesn’t know that they’re there. They all watched Merlin until he was almost out of the city before getting on horses themselves and leaving after him. 

By the time they had reached their destination it was well after dark. They had seen Merlin stop up ahead so they went back a bit to tie the horses up and returned on foot. No one approached Merlin yet they kinda wanted to see how this was going to play out first. Everyone found a good spot where they could see what's going on without being seen. Merlin had taken his horse off and tied it up elsewhere as well. 

For the first half an hour nothing had happened, Merlin was just there, not doing anything. It was almost assumed that Merlin wasn’t lying and just left to go see his mother before three men came into the area.

“Emrys.” The man standing in the middle said.

All of the knights and Arthur thought he was talking to one of the others standing beside him but when it was Merlin who responded they were all confused, “Why are you doing this.”

“I need something from Camelot.” The man grabbed two knives from his belt.

“And what would a dolt like you need from Camelot.” Merlin subtly asked.

“The prince's heart pinned on my wall for a start,” Arthur felt a protective hand on his shoulder and another grabbed his forearm, “then the throne.”

“You think you can just wander into Camelot and do that.” Merlin laughed.

“Of course not. I’m not stupid I know I can’t just do that.” the man looked disgusted at   
Merlin’s accusation, “but if you were to help me we could have it all done by dawn. We could be rulers of Camelot, then you wouldn’t be a servant to a worthless king.”

“Arthur is not a worthless king. He is one of the best kings to live and if you think that I’m going to betray him and let you destroy this land.” Merlin shook his head.

Then it all happened at once. The man had thrown a knife toward Merlin who stopped it with his magic while the other two men went to surround him. One of the men who also started throwing blades or knives at Merlin while the other started throwing spells at him. In an instant there was chaos in the area. There were objects flying in the air and knives being thrown about all four of them were getting injured and there were even a few knives that gave close to hitting the knights and Arthur. One would’ve hit Gwain if Percival wouldn’t have pulled him away.

Merlin was holding his end of the battle quite well, he only had a few injuries and he had done lots of damage to the other three. He knocked out the one henchman who had the blades against a tree and he injured the sorcerer to a point where they were now relying on a tree to keep upright. The original dolt though, was still going strong and still putting up a hell of a fight. Merlin turned towards the sorcerer so he could enchant them to sleep or something so they were out of the way when a blade hit him square in the stomach and went all the way through.

Rage fell over Artur and he jumped out of his hiding spot and swung at the man. One swing and his sword went through the man's entire body leaving him to fall. Merlin sent one more spell to the sorcerer and then they too fell to the forest floor, “Arthur. What are you doing here?”

“I knew you lied to me so we followed you.” Arthur was breathless.

“We?” Merlin asked.

The rest of the knights came out from the places hidden in the trees and joined Merlin by his side. Merlin groaned out in pain as his stomach bled around the knife. Arthur helped him down to the forest floor and knelt by his stomach and tried to stop the bleeding. He started sobbing, “Merlin how do I make it stop.”

‘You can’t Arthur.” Merlin grabbed Arthur’s hand and held it in his, “there's nothing you can do.”

“No. Merlin no. I can’t watch you die. No Merlin you can’t leave.” Arthur babled on and hauled Merlin up so he was sitting against Arthur’s chest, “Can never lose you.”

“Arthur there's something I need you to do after I die.” Merlin pants.

“No Merlin you’re not going to die.” Arthur held him tighter.

“Arthur I’m serious.” Merlin squeezed Arthur’s hand, “I need you to stay here with me until dawn even after I die.” 

“Of course Merlin. I never want to let you go.” Arthur was shaking as he sobbed.

Merlin took one last deep breath and let out a sigh before he went completely still.

“NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!” Arthur started hyperventilating and rocking while he clung to a dead Merlin, “Merlin.”

All of the knights were crying. The only thing holding Gwain up was Percival and Lancelot was on his knees sobbing into his hands while shaking. Elyan looked shocked and was frozen in place. Leon went over to Arthur to try and calm him down, but when he put a hand on Arthur’s shoulder Arthur just asked him to leave.

Leon went back over to Elyan and gave his shoulder a little shake to get him out of his trance and helped Percival let Gwain down, “come on we have to make camp for the rest of the night and I don’t think those three are going to be able to do it..”

The three of them set up the area and made a fire by where Arthur was with Merlin. He had stopped sobbing, but was now sitting in utter silence just staring into nothing. They laid five bedrolls assuming that Arthur wasn’t going to move and just put a rolled up blanket as a pillow for him. They moved Gwain to lay down one and Lancelot on the other. No one was expecting them to move on their own, they just lost their entire world when Merlin died. Then they laid on theirs and went to sleep to let the king mourne.

\- - -

“Wake up you lot. We should be heading home soon and you need to eat your breakfast.” All of the knights were confused. Who here knew how to cook? 

It wasn’t until they heard Gwain say his name that they knew who it was, “Merlin!”

They all opened their eyes to see Gwain already up and hugging Merlin, who was also very not dead. In an instant they were all standing and making some sort of contact with Merlin. Once everyone was done making sure he was real he looked over at Arthur. Arthur was in shock, his face showed no emotion. He just looked down at the dried blood on his tunic and hands then back to Merlin. 

“How?” Came out with one of Arth breaths. 

“I guess it’s just a perk of being me.” Merlin smiles at Arthur.

“But you were dead. I held you as you died.” Arthur was starting to cry again.

“Don’t worry Arthur. I’m back and I’m not going anywhere anytime soon,” Merlin walked over to Arthur and helped him to his feet, “now let’s eat some breakfast so I don’t have to deal with you being an ass later.”


End file.
